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Adventure Time

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This article is about the animated TV series. For other uses, see Adventure Time (disambiguation).
Adventure Time
File:Adventure Time with Finn Jake.png
GenreAdventure
Comedy
Fantasy
Surrealism
Created byPendleton Ward
Creative directorPatrick McHale
Voices ofJeremy Shada
John DiMaggio
Hynden Walch
Tom Kenny
Olivia Olson
Pendleton Ward
Dee Bradley Baker
Opening theme"Adventure Time" by Pendleton Ward
Ending theme"Island Song" by Ashley Eriksson
ComposerCasey James Basichis
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons2
No. of episodes26 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producersFred Seibert
Eric Homan
Derek Drymon
Thurop Van-Orman
ProducersKelly Crews
Pendleton Ward
Running time22 minutes
Production companiesFrederator Studios
Nicktoons Studios (short)
Cartoon Network Studios (series)
Original release
NetworkCartoon Network
ReleaseApril 5, 2010 (2010-04-05) –
present

Adventure Time (formerly Adventure Time with Finn & Jake) is an American animated television series created by Pendleton Ward, based on the animated short Adventure Time that aired as part of Frederator Studios' Random! Cartoons on Nickelodeon.

The series focuses on the surreal adventures undertaken by two best friends: Finn (a 12-year old boy) and Jake (a wise 28-year-old dog with magical powers) that dwell in the Land of Ooo. In September 2008, the short was officially greenlighted for a series by Cartoon Network.[1][2][3] Half-episode "sneak peeks" aired on March 11 and 18, 2010, and the series officially premiered on April 5, 2010. Cartoon Network has ordered a second season of 13 additional half-hour episodes.[4]

Characters

Main characters

File:Finn and Jake Pastures.jpg
The main characters in Adventure Time. In foreground: Jake and Finn. In background from left to right: Princess Bubblegum, Lady Rainicorn, and Ice King.
  • Finn (voiced by Zack Shada in short, Jeremy Shada in series) - A 12-year-old human boy who enjoys defeating evil forces and is skilled at multiple forms of combat. He is shown to have a crush on Princess Bubblegum, though he tries to hide it. Wearing a self-proclaimed 'awesome hat' and prone to strange exclamations and outbursts, he has a lust for adventure and will help anyone in need. Finn is known to be bad at math, although his spontaneous outbursts imply an appreciation of the subject. His friendship with Jake might go as far back as to when he was found by Jake's parents[5] as a baby. Finn also has a fear of the ocean.
  • Jake (voiced by John DiMaggio) - A shape-shifting 4-year-old (28 in dog years) gold pug and best friend who inexplicably gained magical powers while rolling in a magical mud puddle when he was a puppy. Acting at times as a moral compass to his energetic pal, Jake has a laid-back attitude to most situations, but loves adventure, and will fight when he needs to. He is Lady Rainicorn's boyfriend, whom he met in the pilot. He's also able to understand Rainicorn, even though he can't seem to speak the same language as her. His powers help Finn considerably in combat, but are also sometimes used just for jovial forms of expression.

Supporting characters

  • Princess Bubblegum (voiced by Paige Moss in short, Hynden Walch in series) - A hybrid of bubblegum and human DNA and is the ruler of the Candy Kingdom, whose inhabitants are all made of candy as well. She is incredibly smart and has an interest in science. It has been shown in several episodes that Finn has a crush on her.
  • Lady Rainicorn (voiced by Niki Yang in series, Dee Bradley Baker in short)- Princess Bubblegum's loyal, majestic, half-rainbow, half-unicorn steed who speaks Korean. Despite her being unable to speak English, she seems perfectly capable of understanding it. She is shown to have a love of the viola as seen in the pilot, which is how she began to date Jake. She's also able to fly, which she explained was due to her riding sun rays.
  • Ice King (voiced by John Kassir in short, Tom Kenny in series) - Ice King is so far the only recurring antagonist of the show. He's an old, lonely, sociopathic ruler of the Ice Kingdom who is obsessed with capturing princesses in hopes that one of them may want to become his wife—even threatening them with death if they refuse. He is shown, however, to have companionship with the penguins and snow and ice beasts who populate the Ice Kingdom. His magic powers (primarily freezing things by hurling 'frozen lightning bolts', summoning snow monsters, and flying with his beard) stem solely from the magical crown which rests on his head. At one point he temporarily lost his heart, who became his own character: Ricardio the Heart Guy.

Episodes

Main article: List of Adventure Time episodes

As of July 12th, 2010, eighteen 11-minute episode segments have aired, with eight more scheduled to be shown in the first season.

Production

Following the animated short, Frederator Studios pitched an Adventure Time series to Nickelodeon, but the network passed on it twice.[6] The studio then approached Cartoon Network, with creator Pendleton Ward delivering them an early storyboard for "The Enchiridion", showing that the premise could be expanded into a series while maintaining elements from the original short: funny catchphrases and dances, an awkward kiss moment with the princess, and an "Abe Lincoln moment." Cartoon Network greenlit the first season in September 2008, and "The Enchiridion" would become the first produced episode.[6]

Series creator Pendleton Ward has stated that the artistic style is influenced by his time at CalArts and later working as a storyboard artist on Flapjack. He tries to include "beautiful" moments like those in Miyazaki's My Neighbor Totoro and some subversive humor, inspired by series like The Simpsons and Pee-wee's Playhouse.[7] Executive producer Fred Seibert compares the show's animation style to that of Felix the Cat and the Fleischer brothers, but says its world is also equally inspired by video games.[8] Ward intends the show's world to have a certain physical logic instead of "cartoony slapstick" -- even though magic exists in the story, the show's writers try to create an internal consistency in how the characters interact with the world.[7][8]

Ward describes the character Finn as "fiery little kid" with strong morals, while Jake is based on Bill Murray's character in the movie Meatballs, as a laidback twenty-something who usually jokes around, but occasionally gives good advice.[7]

Critical reception

The show has received generally positive reviews. Television critic Robert Lloyd, in an article for the LA Times covering the new series, said it, "strikes [him] as a kind of companion piece to the network's currently airing Chowder and The Marvelous Misadventures of Flapjack.[9] Each takes place in a fantastical land peopled with strange, somewhat disturbing characters and has at its center a young male person or person-like thing making his way in that world with the help of unusual, not always reliable, mentors."[9] He went on to say that the show is, "not unlike CN's earlier Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, about a boy and his monster, though [it is] darker and stranger and even less connected to the world as we know it." Lloyd also compared it to, "the sort of cartoons they made when cartoons themselves were young and delighted in bringing all things to rubbery life."[9]

Awards and nominations

The animated short was nominated for an Annie Award for Best Animated Short Subject of 2006,[10] and in 2010, the episode "My Two Favorite People" granted Adventure Time a nomination for an Emmy Award for Short Format Animated Program.[11]

Animated short

Adventure Time
Directed byLarry Leichliter
Hugo Morales
Pendleton Ward
Written byPendleton Ward
Produced byKevin Kolde
StarringZack Shada
John DiMaggio
Paige Moss
John Kassir
Dee Bradley Baker
Pendleton Ward
Music byCasey James Basichis
Production
company
Distributed byNickelodeon
Release dates
2006 (leak)
30 December 2008 Nicktoons Network
Nicktoons
Running time
8 minutes

The animated short Adventure Time aired as part of Frederator Studios' Random! Cartoons, and led to the creation of the animated series.

Plot

The cartoon begins with Pen (as Finn was originally called) sleeping under a tree and Jake meditating. After they do a little dance (which Jake downloaded from the internet while meditating), Lady Rainicorn (a Korean speaking unicorn/rainbow hybrid) flies by in tears. They discover that Lady Rainicorn is so sad because Princess Bubblegum is being imprisoned by the Ice King. Using snowballs, they battle their way past the Iceclops, Snow Golem, and other monsters that inhabit the Ice Kingdom.

A scene from the short.

Eventually, Pen and Jake reach the Ice King's mountain lair. Pen and the Ice King fight while Jake remains outside flirting with the Rainicorn, ignoring the battle. Just when Pen seems to be gaining the upper hand, the Ice King uses his "frozen lightning bolts" to freeze Pen in a block of ice. For unexplained reasons, this transports Pen's mind "back in time, and to Mars" where he has a short motivational conversation with Abraham Lincoln. After being told to believe in himself, Pen is returned to the present: just in time to see the Ice King fly away with Princess Bubblegum. Chasing after him using Jake's extendable legs, Pen rescues the princess from the Ice King's grasp. Jake pushes the magical crown off the Ice King's head, thereby removing the King's source of power. The Ice King then plummets off screen, yelling a long list of complex threats of things he will do when he returns.

The story closes with Bubblegum giving Pen a kiss, which embarrasses Pen greatly. He attempts to leave, but Jake claims that they have nowhere else to go and that there are no adventures that need them. Fortuitously, some nearby ninjas are stealing an old man's diamonds, and they both run off in pursuit.

References

  1. ^ Cartoon Brew, August 29, 2008
  2. ^ "Adventure Time" Background Development Art
  3. ^ "Enchiridion” Props in Color
  4. ^ Levine, Stuart (2010-04-07). "Cartoon Network renews 'Adventure Time'". Variety. Retrieved 2010-06-19.
  5. ^ Joshua & Margaret
  6. ^ a b ""The Enchiridion" Storyboards". Frederator Studios. 2010-04-22. Retrieved 2010-07-14.
  7. ^ a b c DeMott, Rick (2010-04-25). ""Time for Some Adventure with Pendleton Ward"". Animation World Network. Retrieved 2010-07-14.
  8. ^ a b Zahed, Ramin (2010-02-05). ""And Now for Something Entirely Brilliant!"". Animation Magazine. Retrieved 2010-07-14.
  9. ^ a b c http://articles.latimes.com/2010/apr/05/entertainment/la-et-finn-jake5-2010apr05
  10. ^ 34th Annual Annie Award Nominees and Winners (2006)
  11. ^ DeMott, Rick (2010-07-08). "Adventure Time, Prep & Landing Among Emmy Nominees". AWN.com. Retrieved 2010-07-08.

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